Sun Showers
by Robincall22
Summary: An AU in which Connor wrote a note and didn't skip the last two hours of the school day, and in which Evan goes to get his letter back and grabs the wrong one. After reading Connor's suicide note, Evan wants to help him, so he decides to try and become his friend.
1. A Little Bit of Laughter

"Connor," I heard someone say. "Wait up." I thought I recognized the voice, but I ignored it, instead quickening my pace. "Connor!" I had to get to the park. All I wanted was to get to my favorite tree and lay against it and empty my mom's Tylenol bottle. I had read that the Tylenol would be hella painful and would tear my liver apart, but I had already damaged that pretty badly, now hadn't I?

My shoulder was grabbed and jerked backward, and I felt my bag fall to the ground. Unable to process what was happening, I could do nothing but watch as the bottle and my note fell from the bag. Evan grabbed the paper, clearly assuming it was his, but his was in my pocket. I watched as he scanned the paper, watching his face as he realized that what he was holding was the wrong letter. First confused, then a look of comprehension dawning upon his face, finished with a look of horror and terror. He looked at me and I could tell he was struggling to find the words to speak to me.

Finally, he just whispered, "Connor…" Was that it? Did he really just read my suicide note and all he could think to say was my name? Damn, that even hurt me. But then-

"Connor, you said when you signed my cast, 'At least now we can both pretend we have friends', and I was thinking, what if we didn't pretend? Jared just hangs out with me so his parents will pay his car insurance, and I've never really seen you spending time with anyone. And I've been thinking about it all day, and I was really hopeful about it, so now it would be really terrible to have my hopes let down. I'm not trying to guilt trip you, I just really think that we have a potential for a good friendship. So could you at least wait a day or two and just spend some time with me? There's a really good movie I wanted to see. We could go see it today if you wanted."

I could do nothing but stare at him. He had seen in my own handwriting, in my own words, "Everyone in my life hates me and would be better off without me. No one has ever been my friend, and I don't blame them. I'm not even my own friend. Clearly, or I wouldn't have done this." It was hardly a suicide note as it was a note to myself explaining everything that was wrong with me. To steel my will, I suppose. But now, here was a person actually talking to me, and suddenly my will was falling away around me in layers. This idiot who broke his arm by falling out of a tree was trying to become my friend. He may have been an idiot, but he was clearly trying. There was something in his eyes to suggest that he could relate to me in some way. I glanced at his arm for a second, but then pushed the thought away. After all, who tries to kill themselves by falling out of a tree? Jumping off a building, I get, but jumping out of a tree? What the hell?

I realized I needed to stop staring at Evan and respond, so I looked at him and said, "Um… what- which movie?" Because you know what, what the hell. What's one more day of suffering? I had already endured eighteen years' worth.

Evan look shocked that I had actually agreed. "Um, I was- I was actually going to, uh, let you, um, let you decide."

I smiled and looked down, trying to hide the feeling of slight happiness I could feel bubbling up within me. Pushing my dark brown hair behind my left ear, I said, "Have you ever seen any of the Rocky movies?"

"The what?" Evan asked, looking confused.

The smile fell off my face. "The- the Rocky movies! You know, Rocky Balboa? Apollo Creed? _Boxing_?

"Um…no. Should I?"

" _Yes!_ " I exclaimed. "Anyways, Creed 2 is in theaters and I say we go see that. I'm really good at sneaking into movies."

"Uh… sneaking in? Don't you have money?" Evan looked incredibly nervous. I couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face.

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't be too good at sneaking in. **HEY ZOE!** " I screamed across the parking lot. I saw my sister rest her head momentarily against the side of her car, then she spun around and marched over to me.

" _What do you want Connor_?" she hissed, looking ready to strangle me. Not that that was any different from normal.

"Do you have any money? Me and Evan are going to go see a movie." I looked at Evan, who was suddenly very interested in the ground, glancing up every few seconds to look at my sister. I felt a surge of protectiveness rush through me, but then figured that Evan wasn't a threat to my sister, who could definitely take care of herself.

"If it means you'll be out of my hair for a few hours, then here. Take thirty." She shoved the money at me and stalked off toward her car as soon as I had taken that.

I looked at Evan, who looked shocked. "Look, that's just what the Murphy family is like. Don't be too surprised if you see her actively try to murder me sometime in the future."

"I'm sure she wouldn't have said any of that if she had seen your note-"

"Oh, no, she definitely would've. She doesn't care about me. She… she wants to. But I'm a self-deployed time bomb liable to explode at any second, so I keep her away. So she doesn't get hurt in the explosion. You know what I mean?"

Evan looked after her, then glanced at me, before looking around until his eyes settled on the asshole from the cafeteria. "Yeah. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Come on, let's go. The theater's only a few blocks away, we can walk."

"You go to the theater? I've never seen you there."

"Oh, uh, no, I go to the bookstore a couple blocks down, then I sometimes go to the Mexican restaurant a block down in the other direction." Evan blushed and looked down, seemingly embarrassed by his love for the local bookstore.

We walked in silence to the theater, with Evan looking at me every few minutes with a look of heavy concern all over his face. I was almost starting to regret not going to the park today. Almost. I suppose dying tomorrow with one happy memory of having a sort of friend would make me die a less depressed boy. I certainly wouldn't be dying a happy man, but I can certainly do all I can to die less depressed.

In an effort to break the awkward silence, I say, "I'm sorry about earlier today. At lunch. I really shouldn't have shoved you. I took out the anger I was feeling toward the other guy on you. So I'm, uh, I'm sorry. And about the computer lab. I just…" And here I took a breath and paused. "I just really care about Zoe and I'm really protective of her. You wouldn't know it from how I treat her, but it's true. And… I did really worry that you were trying to make a fool out of me. I can be super paranoid sometimes. So. Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Oh, no! Don't worry about it! I was being stupid anyways. It's fine."

"Evan. It's not fine and you weren't being stupid. I'll still feel bad about it. I need you to tell me you forgive me, because whether you really do or not, at least then I won't be awake until three in the morning overthinking everything I did wrong today. I want to be able to get one last good night's sleep." I chuckled, then froze as Evan spun around toward me.

"Stop it! Just stop, okay?! Don't talk about you killing yourself like it's nothing! Okay? Because it's not nothing! Because I have actually sort of known you for half an hour and I can tell you that I would be devastated if you died. So please. _Please_ don't Connor. If not for yourself and your own future, then for me. So I don't-" He broke off abruptly and looked down at his cast. So maybe I was right and he did try to kill himself by jumping out of a tree. But I figured I didn't know him well enough yet to ask.

"If you think a good movie is going to save my life, you're wrong." Suddenly pissed, I started walking again.

From behind me, I could barely hear Evan as he said, "I didn't think that. But I was hoping that maybe I could."

I stopped. I was paralyzed on the sidewalk. How could I possibly deny this kid the opportunity to help someone? I could at least stop making suicide jokes and let him think he was helping me.

"Okay. Let's just go to the movie and enjoy it, okay? And then we'll think past that. Deal?"

His voice was eager as he said, "Deal!"

We made it to the movie and I paid for the tickets, snacks, and drinks, which was around $25. I handed Evan the change as I picked up the drinks and my popcorn. Turning to Evan, I said, "Quick tip for life, popcorn with Sour Patch Kids mixed in are the greatest thing you will ever eat in your life." I turned back around, narrowly avoiding running into the door, and we settled into our seats.

"Here's your money back," whispered Evan.

"Nah, keep it. You think my family will miss five bucks?"

He opened his mouth to protest, but just then, the movie started. From that second on, Evan was enraptured by the whole thing. He only occasionally leaned over to ask me questions pertaining to the plot that were answered in previous movies, but other than that, his eyes never left the screen.

When the movie was finished, we stumbled out into the sunlight and Evan laughed with glee. "That was so much better than I thought it would be!"

Seeing his pure joy, I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, just wait until you watch the other ones. You'll love them."

He looked up at me and paused, then slowly said, "Um… would you… maybe… want to, uh, go to the bookstore I was telling you about?"

I opened my mouth to refuse, figuring I should get back to previously scheduled plans before I got too attached to Evan, but instead found myself saying, "Yeah, I'd love to."

 _Love_ to‽ What kind of idiot used the word love in any context around someone he had just started bonding with‽

But Evan smiled up at me and I felt all my worried drain away as he laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me enthusiastically along behind him.

And it was in that moment I knew: I would most certainly not be killing myself this week.

 **Just so y'all know, I do not know if one can kill themselves with Tylenol, it was just the first thing that came to mind, so I used it. And with the liver part, I just found that would be a sarcastic little quip. A question for you guys to answer in the reviews, should I make this gay or should they just be friends? Treebros or not Treebros? As ever, thanks for reading and I hope you come back for the future chapters!**


	2. An Afternoon in Town

At the bookstore, Evan made a beeline for the back of the store. He snatched a book from off a table, then strode back to the front and plopped down on a couch by the front door. He opened the book to a bookmarked page and continued reading as though he had forgotten I was there.

"Um. Evan?" He looked up with a jolt and then glanced toward the owner.

"Uh, Jim, is Frenzy here today? My friend Connor is here for the first time. I want him to see how great the bookstore is." I couldn't help but notice that he hardly stuttered when speaking to the employee. He must visit here often if he was so comfortable around the people here.

I was still observing Evan, oblivious to my surroundings, when I suddenly felt something hit my shins. I looked down and saw a small Chihuahua jumping up on my legs. I grinned and kneeled down to pet it.

"That's Frenzy. He's kind of like the store mascot." I looked up and saw Evan grinning back at me.

"Hey Frenzy, wanna help me find a book? What are you reading Ev…an?" I almost nicknamed him, before realizing it was probably a little too soon to start calling him Ev.

"Oh, it's Hank Green's first novel. It's so good! It's so casual about things. Like, she's bi, but it doesn't make a deal out of it at all! And it's so nonchalant about feminine stuff, like bras and periods. There's a few other good books back there. Want me to show you?" he asked, bookmarking his book.

"It's okay Evan. You and I probably don't like the same kinds of books. I like-" And here I broke off, realizing that "sad gay love stories probably wouldn't make a good impression. I couldn't stand regular love stories until they were sad, gay, or both.

Evan just blinked at me, looking momentarily crestfallen. "There's a good one called _All the Bright Places_. It's about a suicidal guy and a girl whose sister died. And then there's also _What If It's Us_ , which is about these two guys who meet in a post office. They're both books I think you'll like." With that, he continued reading. I watched as Frenzy left me and jumped up on the couch next to him.

After a few minutes of pondering in the back, I ultimately decided to read _What If It's Us_ , because it sounded super good. And because I didn't need something sad right now. I got to chapter seven before Evan stood up and said, "It's almost six, do you want to go get dinner?"

I looked up in surprise, because I had no idea it was that late. But just then, my stomach gave a huge rumble. I looked at Evan sheepishly, who threw his head back and laughed. He put his and my books back, still chuckling, then we said goodbye to Jim and Frenzy and made our way down a few blocks. We arrived at the little restaurant and Evan led the way inside. He sat us at a table in the corner, and a middle-aged woman immediately came over to serve us. She asked what I wanted to drink, and I asked for a diet coke. I perused (what? I know big words.) the menu while she was getting my drink and returned with my drink and a lemonade, which she set in front of Evan.

"What will you be having to eat today, sir?" asked the woman.

"Um, I guess I'll take a chicken burrito?" I said, glancing at Evan, who smiled at me. The woman then walked away. She came back five minutes later with my burrito and a plate of beans and flour tortillas that she set in front of Evan.

"How often do you come here?" I asked Evan as he immediately started filling a tortilla with beans.

"Oh, not really that often. They just know their costumers I guess." He started eating his little burrito-taco disaster like he hadn't eaten in a week. Meanwhile, I proceeded to eat my burrito like a sophisticated human being, as half the contents fell out the bottom and I got beans on the side of my mouth. Like I said, sophisticated.

"Hey Evan, how are you going to get home?" I highly doubted he had a car, and it was rather warm outside.

"Oh, I don't live too far, I can walk. It's just a few miles. Like seven or eight, I think that's all it is." He shrugged it off, as though embarrassed.

"Evan it's almost ninety degrees out, you are absolutely not walking eight miles. I'll call Zoe, and we'll give you a ride." Evan jumped at the mention of Zoe, then began rapidly shaking his head.

"No, no, it's fine, I walk all the time, it's okay, really-"

Cutting him off, I shook my head. "Evan, I am not letting you get heat stroke. Just listen to me, okay? You don't even have to talk to Zoe. And I'm telling her to give you a ride whether you ike it or not." Picking up my phone, I called Zoe. "Hey, Evan's trying to tell me he can walk eight miles to his house in this heat, so I told him that I was not allowing that to happen. Could you maybe give him a ride to his house?"

Zoe sighed on the other end. "I guess. Just because I don't want him passing out, not because I'm doing you any favors."

"Thanks Zoe! You're great." It was only after I hung up that I realized that was probably the nicest I've ever spoken to her.

After a few minutes, Zoe's car pulled up to the curb outside the restaurant. We meandered outside and I opened the passenger door, then opened the back passenger door and quickly slid in, locking the door behind me, all in one swift movement. Evan looked lost for a moment, then reluctantly slid into the passenger seat next to Zoe. If this kid was going to force me to do things that would make me smile, then I was going to let him make a pass at my sister.

Unfortunately, neither Zoe nor Evan were in the talking mood all of a sudden. I could tell from the back behind the driver's seat that his face was flaming. I could see Zoe's face in the rearview mirror, and if anything, she seemed perturbed, even concerned and worried. Evan spoke up a few times to give Zoe directions to his house.

When we pulled up outside his house, but instead of getting out, he turned to me in the back.

"Hey, do you maybe wanna stay the night? You can wear some of my clothes tomorrow." He glanced nervously at Zoe, then looked back at me.

I looked at Zoe in the rearview mirror, and I could tell from her expression that she didn't expect me to do it. I didn't think I would either, but I found myself unbuckling my seatbelt and saying to Zoe, "Hey, can you tell mom and dad that I'm staying at a friends house?"

Her mouth gaped open in astonishment, then she composed herself and nodded. As I slid across the seat toward the passenger's side door (the driver's side back door had stopped working years ago), with Evan already halfway to the house, Zoe said to me, "If you spend your night here getting that sweet guy high, I'm going to murder you."

"No worries sis, I haven't smoked anything since this morning. Practically a personal record if you ask me. I don't plan on going cold turkey, because I would not survive that, but I do plan on cutting back some."

"Connor," she said as I ducked out of the car. I quickly swiveled back around and stuck my head back into the car. "I'm proud of you," she said, not looking at me. But I could see a smile creeping onto her face.

"Hey, Zoe," I said softly. "I love you." And before she could reply, I ducked back out and closed the door, smiling all the way to the door of Evan's house, feeling, for the first time since seventh grade, the slightest bit happy.

 **Thank you for reviewing to the people who reviewed this! And a happy birthday to Star-eyed-anime-girl! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and got something better than the first chapter of this!**


	3. Phone Calls & Text Messages

In the house, I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. Glancing at my screen, I saw a text from Miguel flash across the screen.

 _u good_

Another text: _u had me p worried w/ that message_

I pocketed my phone as Evan called me to his room. I looked around as I walked down the short hallway. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls and the doors to each door were stained alongside the hardwood floors.

"Alright, so you're gonna sleep in my bed. We have a blow up mattress somewhere that I can use." Evan turned away, clearly ready to search for the mattress.

"Wait, I could sleep on the couch out there." Evan turned toward me, already shaking his head.

"My mom doesn't know you're here. She would want to question you on and on. You would hate it." As he spoke, my phone buzzed again. And again. Looking down, I saw my dad was calling me.

"Hey, I have to answer this, do you mind if I step outside real quick?" I asked Evan, hoping to keep my dad's anger and fury away from this innocent boy.

"Yeah, there's a chair out in the back yard if you want to sit down. Back door's right over there," said Evan, waving in the direction of the door.

Stepping outside, I answered the phone, hearing my dad's tinny voice coming from the receiver before I even brought it up to my ear.

"-at that kid's house, you're off getting high. So you're going to come home right now, even if you have to walk, and you're going to leave that kid and your sister out of your lies, because, unlike you, they are good people and I will not let you take advantage of them!"

"Dad, shut up for once. I'm staying at a friend's house. I was having a good time until you ruined it by calling."

"That's how I know you're lying, you don't have any friends. No one would willingly spend time with you. You're a monster. You can't do anything right. You screw up everything. You just get high and-"

And then I hung up. I hated when he spoke to me like that, but there was nothing I could do to stop him. So I just got high, which made it easier to ignore him or forget what he said. But I couldn't get high now because I had promised Zoe I wouldn't. And because I didn't want to taint this poor boy. So instead I sunk to the ground, leaning my head back against the wall of the house and let a few tears fall from my eyes. But once I had started crying, I couldn't stop and the tears were cascading down my cheeks and I was wishing I had gone to the park but I couldn't get the med now unless I stole this family's meds but I couldn't do that, I couldn't take from them and have that be the last thing I do so instead I sat outside, tears turning to muffled cries turning to sobs, eyes closed the whole time, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I hiccupped in surprise, and my eyes flew open, my muscles tensing, ready either to fight whoever was here to tease me or run before they recognized it was me. But where I was came back to me, and I recognized Evan's face, scrunched tight with concern.

"Connor, what happened? Who was calling you? What did they say? Did your girlfriend break up with you? Was it-"

"Evan. Please stop talking and just sit with me." So he did. We sat in silence for about ten minutes before I said, "It was my dad." I felt him preparing himself to ask more questions, so I kept talking. "And how could you possibly think I have a girlfriend? It's me, remember? Everyone knows what a monster I am. No, I did have a boyfriend though." At this I felt him shift next to me. I didn't look over to see what it meant. "He broke up with me just after summer started. Which reminds me, I should probably answer him."

I pulled my phone back out, seeing that after having muted it, I had four missing calls from my dad, the last one being half an hour ago, before he apparently gave up, and five texts from Miguel, all from within the past five minutes.

 _r u ok_

 _?!_

 _plz answer_

 _im so worried_

 _plz answer me connor plzplzplz just tell me ur ok_

As I read them, a new one popped onto my screen.

 _where r u im coming_

I smiled at my screen. So even after everything that had happened, he still cared about me. I was glad. He had meant more to me than anything else in my life ever had. I had loved him so much. Truth be told, I still did.

 _Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about it._

I mean, I knew he wouldn't bother answering now he knew I was okay. He still hated me. But honestly, that was kind of okay. I had a friend now. And it had been months since our breakup. So I was kind of recovering.

 _No you aren't,_ said the voice in the back of my head. _If you were, you wouldn't have almost killed yourself today. If it weren't for the fact that Evan helped you and you're too weak to have your mind made up about it for long without wussing out, you'd be dead right now. Pussy._

Well, the voice in my head certainly wasn't wrong. I was a pussy. I can't believe I didn't do it today! I was so fucking weak and pathetic. This revelation of course only made me sob harder, and I felt Evan lean into me. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his shoulder, where I stained his sleeve with my tears. But it was comfortable, so I stayed. Warm in the side of my new friend. Who I could tell I was going to love and end up inviting to my wedding or something. And right now, here, in the crook of his arm, I was unbelievably, undeniably, _happy_.

 **So most importantly, I'm going on a date soon! I need your guys' advice. What do I wear, what makeup do I do, what do I do with my almost but not quite shoulder length hair? I've actually never been on a date! So I need y'all's advice! Second, let me know what you think of this chapter! The next one is going to have some mildly explicit sexual content, not between Connor and Evan though, it's a flashback. It might not be the very next chapter, but it probably will be, because I was going to include it in this chapter and then I decided not to, but it's already mostly written. As always, leave a review and I'll see you next chapter!**


	4. Betrayal

**This chapter has some rather graphic content in it, so if you are a small child, please do not read this. I do not want to be responsible for taking your innocence.**

I had been happy. With Miguel. Until his seventeenth birthday. He held a huge party and invited a lot of his friends and family. He was nowhere to be found and for a while, I was perfectly satisfied mingling with the crowd.

But then I got drunk, drunker than I had ever been. And Marisa was just _there_ and Miguel wasn't and I was horny as fuck, so I hooked up with her. At Miguel's party. At Miguel's house. In Miguel's bedroom. On Miguel's bed. While he was at the hospital because his grandmother had had a stroke. Which I didn't know until after the fact, which explained why he wasn't there. Not that it would have been any better if he hadn't been at his grandmother's bedside. She was okay, which is why he returned to his party, cleared everyone out, and went to bed, only to find me and cousin fucking on his bed. On round four.

We didn't see him for a good amount of time, so while he stood in the doorway, exhausted and shocked, with no idea of what to do, I remained tied to his bed spread-eagle while Marisa rode me with her breasts bouncing everywhere. I might have been drunk, but I could never forget that night. That was the night the thing I loved more than anything else was lost to me forever. After she was done screaming my name and my hips were done thrusting erratically on their own in pleasure, we both glanced over and saw Miguel in the doorway. His shirt was already off and his belt was halfway off. He had been undressing up the stairs, he was so tired. His hair was messy and going everywhere from him running his hands through it at the hospital. He had never looked more beautiful in his life, and my brain, drunk as it was, immediately thought, _I want to fuck him senseless and then hold him in my arms while we sleep for ten hours. And then maybe we could have pancakes with strawberries on them that we cook shirtless tomorrow morning, and we burn the first batch-_ and it went on like that for a while, but while my brain wanted the domestic lifestyle, but only after I screwed him, my body comprehended what he was seeing and what was going to happen now. I have never had an erection die that fast.

So while Marisa leapt off of me, covering herself with a blanket, I lay there, helplessly tied up, waiting for the ball to drop. He bent down, his tanned skin crumpling on his stomach, grabbed her black lace underwear and red lacy bra, threw them at her, causing her to make this pathetic squealing noise, tossed her ruby, sequined, and very short, I should know, I took it off her, dress to her.

"Get dressed and get the fuck out of my house," he muttered, his voice dangerously quiet. Then he left the room. Marisa ignored him at first, instead turning her mouth to my dick, trying to get it hard again, yet failing miserably.

"Get off of me, Marisa. You need to go, okay? He's my boyfriend." She looked at me through fluttering eyes.

"He doesn't have to be. I could be your girlfriend instead. Don't use the excuse that you love him, because if you did, you wouldn't have screwed me so hard," she said moaning the last word.

"No, Marisa. I don't like you. At all. You're hot, but you're an annoying, vapid bitch. Now get off me." It was harsh, but true, and I needed to get her to leave somehow.

She gaped, then slapped me. "You're such a fucking asshole! Most guys would love to have me. You're so stupid to not realize how great I am. Any other guy would kill to stick his dick in me."

"Good to know no other guys have standards then. Get. Off. Now." She did, quickly got dressed, then rushed out of the room. Seconds later, Miguel walked in.

 **As always, please leave a review and read my other three WIPs, if you like their genres, and then vote on the poll at the top of my bio! Thank you for reading!**


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